58 | June• 2018
OPENING HEAVEN’S DOOR
She sensed a presence in her bed-
room.“Ifelthandsonmyhead,and
experiencedvisionaftervisionofa
happyfuture.”Unawarethatourfa-
therhaddiedthenightbefore,she
described her experience to her el-
dersonthenextmorning,andwrote
aboutitinherdiary.
We were in shock. Kat harine had
had a vision? My sister wasn’t prone
to spiritual experiences. Stress she
was familiar with,
asthemotheroftwo
teenagers. Laughter
sheloved.Fitnessof
anykind.Fantasticin-
tellect, fluent in three
languages. But she
hadn’t been paying
much attention, in es-
sence, to God.
Later, I would learn
that this sort of expe-
rience when someone
hasdiedisstartlinglycommon.Fam-
ilies shelter their knowledge like a
delicateheirloom.Atthetime,Ionly
understoodwhatagiftthiswasfor
Katharine, who was about to face her
owndeath,frombreastcancer.
JusttwomonthsafterDaddied,
Katharinewasmovedtoahospice.In
herinaltendays,shespokelittle,yet
seemed profoundly content. “Wow,
that was strange,” she remarked once
upon waking up, her expression one
ofsmilingdelight.“IdreamedIwas
beingsmooshedinflowers.”She
looked gorgeous, as if lit from within.
Sometimes she would have happy,
whispered conversations with a per-
son I couldn’t see. At other times, she
wouldstareattheceilingasafull
panoply of expressions played across
herface–puzzled,amused,sceptical,
surprised, calmed – like a spectator
inaplanetarium.
ThesisterwithwhomI’dshared
every secret couldn’t translate this
for me. “It’s so interesting,” she be-
gan one morning, and
then couldn’t find the
language. Forty-eight
hours before she died,
shetoldus,“Iamleav-
ing.” She left in silence
and candlelight, while
Ilaywithmycheekon
her chest and my hand
on her heart.WHY HAD MY SISTER
had a powerful spiritual
experienceinthehourofmyfather’s
unexpecteddeath?Whydidshebe-
come increasingly joyful in her dying
experience?Whatwouldshehave
told me if she could?
hatsummerandautumn,people
cameoutofthewoodworktotellme
theirtales.Somewerefriendsand
colleagues,otherswerestrangers
sittingbesidemeonanaeroplane.If
Itoldthemaboutmyfatherandsis-
ter,theyreciprocated.Almostinvar-
iably, they prefaced their remarks by
saying, “I’ve never told anyone this,
but ...” Or, “We’ve only ever discussedhat autumn
and summer,
people came
out of the wood-
work to tell me
their tales